Culloden Viaduct Inverness Scotland

Culloden Viaduct Inverness Scotland, originally uploaded by conner395.

When the railway finally reached Inverness from the south (in 1863) it followed a circuitous route from Aviemore(only 30 miles from Inverness as the crow flies).

It followed the Sprey Valey to Grantown, then climbed over the bleak and exposed Dava Moor to Forres, on the Moray firth, before following the shoreline west to the Capital of the Highlands.

In the 1890's plans finally reached fruition to build a direct line from Aviemore over/through the mountains to Inverness.

A major barrier was Strathnairn, the wide valley of the River Nairn, just south of Culloden Battlefield.

To cross the valley at high level it was necessary to construct a huge high viaduct to carry the line. The viaduct - which opened in 1898 and took 5 years to construct from local pink sandstone - is a tribute to Victorian engineering and one of the modern-day Highland monuments.

Some 600 yards long, it comnprises 29 spans (the centre one being 100 ft wide and the remainder50 ft wide), all on a curve.